Refrigerating apparatus



No. 607,32l. Patented luly l2, I898. H. W. ABBOTT. v BEFBIGEBATINGAPPARATUS.

A lication filed Sept. 13, 1897.)

(No Model.)

FIG 3 mi m 3 M2 M WITNESSES Mag.

UNTTED STATES PATENT FFICEQ HENRY \VILLIAMS ABBOTT, OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO IVILLIAM L. REED, OF STOCKTON,CALIFORNIA.

REFRIGERATIN'G APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 607,321, dated July 12,1898.

Application filed September 13,1897. Serial No. 651,538. iNo model.)

T0 (0% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY WILLIAMS AB- BOTT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRefrigerating Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of saidinvention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it most nearly appertains to make,use, and practice the same.

My invention relates to an improved refrigerating apparatus forsupplying cold air to storage-rooms and other places; and it consists ofthe mechanism and combination of v devices hereinafter described andpointed out.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a longitudinalsection on line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan view, the car-body beingin section. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sec tion of the ice-chamber andcone-shaped vessel, showing the spiral passage. Fig. 4 is a plan view ofthe ice-box and cones.

Let A represent the body of a refrigeratorcar or other storage room orstructure which it is desired to supply with cold air. At some pointwithin this roomor structure, preferably at one end, I construct aseparate compartment or chamber B, which may or may not extend acrossthe full width of the room. Usually, however, for the conservation ofspace it will be a simple square box-shaped structure, which may becircular, square, or polygonal, in the neighborhood of two or three feetin diameter. In the case of a refrigerator-car I make it extend to theroof of the car and I make an opening in the roof directly over it inthe usual way of making icehole openings in the roofs ofrefrigerator-cars, so that ice may be introduced into the chamber fromthe roof through this opening. Inside of this chamber and resting uponthe bottom or floor of the chamber I place an open truncated cone 0,with its largest end downward. This vessel may be of any desired height,but ordinarily it should not extend above the middle height of thechamber. This open truncated cone I construct preferably with doubleconcentric walls 0 e, so as to leave a space of from one to three inchesB connects with the tube 9, so as to draw the warm air at the ceilingthrough the tube 9 and force it through the refrigerating-coils and intothe storage or cooling room through the pipe j at or near thefi'oor.

The fan-blower Il may be driven by any suitable power. I shall usuallyuse a storage battery K, located inside the structure. I11 the case of arefrigerator-car, however, I shall use a small wind-wheel L on the topof the car and surmount it with a hood M, so that when the car is inmotion the air gathered by the hood will act upon the wheel and driveit. This wind-wheel may be connected with the blower by any suitablemeans, such as the shaft O shown in Fig. 1, which is connected bybevel-gearing with the wind-wheel and blower-shafts, respectively. Inconnection with this wind-wheel I also employ an ordi: naryball-governor P, mounted on the upper end of the shaft 0. Thisgovernoris provided with a circuit in which is the storage battery -Kandmotor K, the latter being belted or otherwise geared to the shaft of theblower.

When the wind-wheel is in operation, the gov ernor acts through thedevice 0 to keep the said circuit open; but as soon as the car stops andthe wind-wheel ceases to operate the governor acts upon theswitch-controlling device 0 to close said circuit, and thereby set inoperation the motor. I for a continuous operation of the blower andair-circulation. I do not, however, limit myself to this describedarrangement, since any suitable motor or motors with connecting devicesmay be used to maintain the operation 5 of the blower.

In the operation of my refrigerator ice is filled into the chamber Bthrough its open upper end until the space inside of and surrounding thevessel 0 and above it are filled roe The upper end of this fiat 55 Inthis manner I provide with ice. The fan-blower is then set in motion, sothat the warm air is drawn from the receiver at the ceiling and causedto pass from the top to the bottom of the vessel 0 through the spiraltube or passage and be discharged into the room A from the pipe j. Theair is thus circulated from the refrigerating-room through theice-surrounded coil and back into the refrigerating-room until anyrequired reduction of temperature is obtained.

The truncated-cone form of the vessel 0 is an important feature of theapparatus for the reason that as the ice melts around the same theremaining ice clings or adheres more closely to the outer wall of saidvessel, its descent being opposed by the sloping surface of said wallinstead of falling away from it, as would be the case with a vesselhaving a straight wall. By keeping the ice in this manner in closecontact with the said wall the requisite low temperature of theair-passage is maintained with a very material savin g in ice. An almostequally advantageous efiect is derived from the form of the inner wallof said vessel, since the ice contained therein being buoyed up by thewater therein (the vessel being always partly filled) is caused to wedgeor pack more closely in the upwardly-tapering space and is held incloser contact with the inner surface of the wall than in astraight-walled space,where the ice floats more or less loosely in thewater.

As the ice in the chamber B melts new ice can be supplied through theopen top, and an overflow-pipe 'r is arranged to carry away the surpluswater from the chamber after a certain depth is obtained, which will beregulated by the location of the overflow-pipe.

U is a ventilator-pipe, which is located at some point in the roof orupper part of the storage-room to exhaust or supply air, as required.

If it is desired to medicate or sterilize the air, a wash-bottlecontaining the necessary medicament can be connected with the extremityof the discharge-pipej, as represented at Fig. 1, orjars containingabsorbent cotton or sponges saturated with any substance adapted todestroy germs can be substituted for it. The air from thedischarge-pipej is caused to pass through this vessel or jar whendesired and through or over its contents and to the point ofdistribution through any suitable duct or conduit.

By this apparatus I can utilize the refrigeratin g effect of the ice tothe highest degree. The conical refrigerating vessel will give a largetube-surface for the air to pass over, and the cold water which resultsfrom the melting ice is utilized by the superior diameter of the lowerend of the vessel to aid in cooling the air.

This apparatus is intended for providing cold purified air forpreserving perishable substances.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In an air refrigerating apparatus, the combination of theice-chamber, the open truncated cone therein of less diameter than thechamber and the spiral air-flue formed about the outer surface of saidcone, substantially as described.

2. In' an air refrigerating apparatus, the combination of theice-chamber, the open truncated cone therein of less diameter than thechamber and the spiral air-flue formed about the outer surface of saidcone, means for forcing air through said flue, and an overfiow-pipecommunicating with said chamber considerably above the bottomthereof,whereby the lower portion of the cone is kept submerged in themeltage, substantially as described.

3. In an air refrigerating apparatus, the combination of the icechamber,the open truncated cone therein of less diameter than the chamber, asecond cone surrounding and spaced from the first-named cone,and aspiral air-fine formed between said cones, as described.

In testimony whereof I' have hereunto signed my name, in the presence oftwo witnesses, this 7th day of August, A. D. 15597.

HENRY \VILLIAMS ABBOTT.

Witnesses:

W. M. BRINKMAN, EDWARD BRINKMAN.

